Analysis of epoxidized natural rubber. A comparative study of d.s.c., n.m.r., elemental analysis and direct titration methods

A comparative analysis of epoxidized natural rubber samples by ¹H and ¹³C n.m.r., titrimetric, elemental and d.s.c. techniques has been made. Whereas the titrimetric method is only applicable at low epoxy contents (< 15 mol%) both n.m.r. methods give reasonable precision over the compositional range of 20–75 mol%. Elemental analysis appears less reliable. D.s.c. analysis through measurement of T_g provides the highest precision of measurement but requires independent calibration by one or more of the primary methods. The epoxy content may also be related to the polymer density.